Client portal

ABSTRACT

A client portal that is optimized to fulfill a specific function. The portal can include a browser that is dedicated to performing a particular task, such as reviewing and purchasing electronic books. For example, to better perform the specific function, the browser may only be able to directly access sites designated by an authorized party, e.g., the browser&#39;s publisher. Because the browser is dedicated to performing a single task, the user interface for operating the dedicated browser may be simplified to include only those controls useful for performing the assigned task. Also, the content available for access by the client portal can be controlled by a single authorized party, such as the portal&#39;s publisher or distributor.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a client portal optimized for fulfilling aspecific function. More particularly, the invention is directed to aclient portal for facilitating the performance of a specific task, suchas purchasing a particular type of item or service (e.g., eBooks). Theinvention may be implemented, for example, by a browser or otherapplication that is dedicated to performing a single task and whichemploys a user interface that is simplified to only those controlsuseful for performing the assigned task.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Early in their evolution, computers employed operating systems such asMS-DOS® that used command line interfaces. That is, a user controlledthese operating systems by typing specific commands on a command line.Similarly, the application programs that ran on these early computersused command line interfaces. While these operating systems andapplications were very powerful, they required a user to know a numberof different specialized commands in order to effectively operate acomputer. The complexity of these commands severely limited the numberof people who could use a computer. Many people who did not have thetime or ability to learn the necessary commands were unable to operatethese computers, or at least unable to operate them effectively.

As computers evolved, software developers created both operating systemsand applications that were simpler to learn and use. For example, theWindows® operating system provided graphical user interfaces instead ofcommand line interfaces. This allowed users to operate a computer simplyby moving or activating icons. Also, instead of having to remember aspecific command, a user could now activate a menu that would list allof the available commands. The user could then activate the desiredcommand by, for example, moving a displayed cursor to the listing ofthat command and pressing an activation button (sometimes referred to as“clicking on” the command).

The Windows® operating system had a dramatic effect on the use ofcomputers around the globe. Rather than having to learn a detailed listof user commands, a user could now employ almost any softwareapplication with only a rudimentary knowledge of that application andits underlying operating system. This revolution has opened the use ofcomputers to a wide segment of the population, from small children tooyoung to read to senior citizens. In turn, it has led to the exponentialand ubiquitous use of computers in all walks of society.

Similarly, the development of the hypertext markup language (HTML) hasspurred the growth of an entirely new economy implemented over computernetworks, such as the Internet. While the Internet has existed in oneform or another for decades, it was difficult for the ordinary person tonavigate the Internet. Instead, a user typically had to be skilled intelnet and the file transfer protocol (FTP) to consistently obtaininformation over the Internet. With the advent of HTML and the WorldWide Web, users now routinely employ browsers (i.e., softwareapplications for retrieving and displaying markup language pages fromthe Internet) to perform almost every type of commercial transaction,including buying and reading books in electronic form.

This growth in the use of computers to conduct business over theInternet has created some problems, however. For example, in order toobtain content from the Internet, a user must employ a browser program,but these browser programs have become very complex. Part of the problemwith these browser programs is that they must offer a generalizedinterface in order to accomplish a variety of tasks and goals. In orderto perform this variety of tasks and goals, these browser programs mustbe complex, with a large number of commands and control options. Thus,many individuals still find this software difficult to use, and thesepeople have been cut off from the benefits provided by the new digitalmarketplace.

Further, as more and more information is accessible over the Internet,it becomes more and more difficult to isolate information useful for aparticular purpose. For example, a number of companies maintain Websites for selling electronic books over the Internet. If a user does notknow the specific Internet address for one of these Web sites, however,the user may have to employ a search engine to obtain one. Dependingupon the user's search criteria, the search results produced by thesearch engine may include only a few useful Web sites, if any at all.Alternately, the search results may include several useful Web sites,but list these useful Web sites among so many other unrelated Web sitesthat the user must tediously parse through all of the results toidentify those Web sites that are pertinent.

Moreover, once a user has located a useful Web site and would like tomake a purchase, the process of making the purchase may be difficult orconfusing for the user. For example, one merchant may require the userto submit a great deal of information, such as the user's age,education, occupation, email address, etc. Another merchant, on theother hand, may only require the user's credit card information and thedelivery address. Some merchants may accept electronic cash, while stillother merchants may accept only charges to a well-established creditcard account. Further, some merchants may require a new user to set up apermanent account in order to make a purchase, while other merchants mayallow a user to make a one-time purchase. Still further, if the user hasnot made a previous purchase from the merchant, the user may beuncertain as to the honesty of the merchant or the quality of themerchant's goods. Also, even after a user has located and accessed auseful Web site, the Web site may not have its information organized ina convenient fashion. Some merchants may provide a detailed descriptionand image of each product, while other merchants may only give a list ofits products, identifying each with only a short reference.

The wide variety in the access, use and format of different commercialWeb sites make it difficult for some user's to employ multiple sites.Instead, many users locate only a few sites that they feel comfortablenavigating and purchasing from, and then limit their future purchases tojust those Web sites. Also, while some software for making purchasesover the Internet (e.g., browsers) allow a user to save the Internetaddresses of useful Web sites once they've been located, the addressesfor these sites can be changed or deleted without updating the user'ssoftware. Thus, a user may be unable to identify a favorite Web site ifits address is changed. Moreover, if a user is purchasing content foruse with a software application, the user cannot do so in a single step.Instead, the user must separately locate the relevant content, purchasethe content, download the content, and then integrate the content withthe application, each in a different operation.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The various embodiments of the invention relate to a device for makingpurchases over the Internet, i.e., a client portal, which is optimizedfor fulfilling a specific function or performing a particular task. Forexample, the client portal may be optimized for reviewing and purchasingelectronic books (hereafter referred to as eBooks). To achieve thisoptimization, the client portal may have limited or specificfunctionality. Thus, the client portal may only access sites from a listof available sites preselected or maintained by an authorized party,such as the portal's publisher. Still further, some embodiments of aclient portal according to the invention may only access those sitesthat offer the product that the portal is optimized to purchase (e.g.,eBooks). Additionally, the portal may be implemented as part of anapplication (e.g., an eBook reader) such that the portal seamlesslyretrieves content from a network and integrates the content into theapplication in a single operation.

Because the portal is dedicated to performing a specific task, the userinterface for operating the dedicated portal may also be simplified toinclude only those controls useful for performing the assigned task.This interface simplification makes the dedicated client portal easierto use for the assigned task than, e.g., a general-purpose browserprogram. Further, dedicating the client portal to a specific task allowsthe authorized party to maintain a degree of control over the use of theportal, thereby permitting the authorized party to sell access throughthe client portal. Moreover, the authorized party can ensure that themerchants that maintain the preselected sites present their informationin a consistent manner, so that the user can easily navigate all of thepreselected sites. For example, the authorized party can ensure that allof the preselected sites selling eBooks organize the titles of theeBooks into catalogs based upon, e.g., genre, time period, authors, etc.Further, the authorized party can ensure that all of the merchants thatmaintain preselected sites are reputable, and employ consistentfinancial transactions for the purchase of their products.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates one possible computing device forimplementing various embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows a generic user interface for a conventional browser.

FIG. 3 schematically depicts a dedicated client portal according to oneembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 shows a first user interface according to one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5 shows a second user interface according to one embodiment of theinvention.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate catalog pages from a catalog for obtainingitems for purchase according to embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Devices For Implementing Various Embodiments Of The Invention

Various embodiments of the invention can be implemented with computersystems, such as the exemplary computer system illustrated in FIG. 1.The system includes a general purpose computing device in the form of aconventional personal digital assistant, personal computer or networkserver 120 or the like, including a processing unit 121, a system memory122, and a system bus 123 that couples various system componentsincluding the system memory 122 to the processing unit 121. The systembus 123 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memorybus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any ofa variety of bus architectures. The system memory includes read-onlymemory (ROM) 124 and random access memory (RAM) 125. A basicinput/output system 126 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that helpto transfer information between elements within the personal computer120, such as during startup, is stored in ROM 124.

The personal computer or network server 120 may further include a harddisk drive 127 for reading from and writing to a hard disk (not shown),a magnetic disk drive 128 for reading from or writing to a removablemagnetic disk 129, and an optical disk drive 130 for reading from orwriting to a removable optical disk 131 such as a CD-ROM or otheroptical media. The hard disk drive 127, magnetic disk drive 128, andoptical disk drive 130 are connected to the system bus 123 by a harddisk drive interface 132, a magnetic disk drive interface 133, and anoptical drive interface 134, respectively. The drives and theirassociated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage ofcomputer readable instructions, data structures, program modules andother data for the personal computer or network server 120. Although theexemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk, a removablemagnetic disk 129 and a removable optical disk 131, it should beappreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computerreadable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer,such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks,Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read-only memories(ROMs) and the like may also be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment.

A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk 127, magneticdisk 129, optical disk 131, ROM 124 or RAM 125, including an operatingsystem 135 (e.g., the Windows CE, Windows® 2000, Windows NT®, or Windows95/98 operating system), one or more application programs 136 (e.g.Word, Access, Pocket PC, Pocket Outlook, etc.), other program modules137 and program data 138. A user may enter commands and information intothe personal computer 120 through input devices such as a keyboard 140and pointing device 142. Other input devices (not shown) may include amicrophone, joystick, game pad, satellite disk, scanner, touch pad,touch screen, or the like. These and other input devices are oftenconnected to the processing unit 121 through a serial port interface 46that is coupled to the system bus 123, but may be connected by otherinterfaces, such as a parallel port, game port, universal serial bus(USB), or a 1394 high-speed serial port. A monitor 147 or other type ofdisplay device is also connected to the system bus 123 via an interface,such as a video adapter 148. In addition to the monitor 147, personalcomputers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown),such as speakers and printers.

The personal digital assistant, personal computer or network server 120may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to oneor more remote computers, such as a remote computer 149. The remotecomputer 149 may be another personal digital assistant, personalcomputer or network server, a router, a network PC, a peer device orother common network node, and typically includes many or all of theelements described above relative to the personal computer 120, althoughonly a memory storage device 150 has been illustrated in FIG. 1. Forexample, a personal digital assistant using a Windows CE operatingsystem can operate as a standalone computer, or as a connected extensionof a personal computer. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 1include a local area network (LAN) 151 and a wide area network (WAN)152. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices,enterprise-wide computer networks, Intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal digitalassistant, personal computer or network server 120 is connected to thelocal network 151 through a network interface or adapter 153. When usedin a WAN networking environment, the personal digital assistant,personal computer or network server 120 typically includes a modem 154or other means for establishing communications over the wide areanetwork 152, such as the Internet. The modem 154, which may be internalor external, is connected to the system bus 123 via the serial portinterface 146. In a networked environment, program modules depictedrelative to the personal digital assistant, personal computer or networkserver 120, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memorystorage device 150. It will be appreciated that the network connectionsshown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communicationslink between the computers may be used.

Conventional Browsers

As is well known in the art, a browser is a software program that can beimplemented on a computer system that allows a user to view (or“browse”) documents written in the hypertext markup language (HTML), aswell as other files and software related to those HTML documents. Whilebrowsers are typically used to access Web pages over the Internet (i.e.,HTML documents residing on computer servers using the Hypertext TransferProtocol), those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thatbrowsers can also be used to browse information from other sources, suchas other networks, an intranet, or the local hard drive. Conventionalbrowsers are also typically capable of downloading files, transferringfiles, displaying graphic images embedded in a HTML document, andexecuting programs such as Java™ applets or ActiveX® controls.Accordingly, browsers are often used to purchase goods or services overthe Internet. For example, a user may use a browser both to select anitem for purchase from a Web page provided by merchant, and then toprovide credit card information to the merchant to complete thepurchase.

FIG. 2 shows a generic user interface 201 for a conventional browser. Asseen in this figure, the browser interface 201 includes a first task bar202 with a number of command buttons 203-208 entitled “File,” “Edit,”“View,” “Go,” “Favorites,” and “Help,” respectively. The interface 201also includes a second task bar 409 with still more command buttons210-218, entitled “Back,” “Forward,” “Stop,” “Refresh,” “Home,”“Search,” “Favorites,” “Print,” and “Mail,” respectively, and a thirdtask bar 219, with command buttons 220-224 entitled “News,” “Sports,”“Weather,” “Money,” and “Food,” respectively. These commands allow thebrowser to perform a variety of functions. For example, activating the“Edit” command button 204 may produce a command menu that includescommands allowing a user to cut text or images from a document, pastetext or images to a document, delete text or images from a document, orselect text or images in a document for any of these procedures.Similarly, activating the “Favorites” command button 216 will providethe user with a list of Universal Resource Locator (URL) addresses forpreviously selected Web sites. Activating the “Home” command button 222might cause the browser to retrieve and display a preselected Web pagethat the user has designated as a default page.

The browser interface 201 also has a display portion 225 for displayingretrieved documents, and an address line 226. The address line 226allows a user to enter the URL address of a HTML document (hereafterreferred to as a page or Web page for convenience only) to be retrievedby the browser. As is known in the art, the URL defines a request for aspecific page, document or file stored on a server computer in thenetwork. The browser then sends this request to a router for thenetwork, which uses the URL address to pass the request onto theappropriate server computer with the desired page, object or file. Whilethe address line allows a user to retrieve any accessible Web page, ifthe user mistypes the URL then the browser may retrieve an incorrectpage or fail to retrieve a page altogether.

A Client Portal According to one Embodiment of the Invention

FIG. 3 schematically depicts a dedicated client portal 301 according toone embodiment of the invention. As seen in this figure, the clientportal 301 includes a set of operating functions 302 and a memory 303.The client portal 301 provides access to obtain and convey informationover a network such as the Internet. In order to provide this access,the operating functions 302 may include many of the functions typicallyassociated with a conventional browser. For example, the operatingfunctions 302 may include all of the functions necessary to operate abrowser as known to those of ordinary skill in the art. The operatingfunctions 302 for this particular embodiment of the invention alsopreferably include objects to provide at least two user interfaces,interface 304 and interface 305. Each of these interfaces will bediscussed in greater detail below.

The embodiment of the client portal 301 illustrated in FIG. 3 isspecifically for the sale and subsequent viewing of eBooks. Moreparticularly, the client portal 301 is an expression of a browser in arendering application for displaying eBooks. The portal memory 303 forthis particular embodiment of the invention preferably has at leastthree portions, entitled “Library 306,” “Bookstore 307,” and “Guidebook308.” Each of these portions also will be explained in greater detailbelow as well.

All of the various components of the client portal 301 may reside on asingle memory medium for a local computer like that described above withreference to FIG. 1. Alternately, portions of the client portal 301 maybe divided among different memory media for a local computer (i.e., itmay be divided between RAM and ROM memories, between a hard drive and aRAM memory, etc.), or even among memory media for the local computer andmemory media residing with a remote computer. For example, while theoperating functions 302 may reside on a local computer, the Bookstore307 portion of the portal memory 303 may reside on a remote computerconnected to the local computer via a network, such as the Internet.Similarly, the Library 306 and/or Guidebook 308 portions of the portalmemory 303 may also reside on a remote computer connected to the localcomputer via a network. Some embodiments of the invention may even havethe entire memory 303 located on a remote computer connected to thelocal computer via a network. Those of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that a number of possible variations in the location of thecomponents of the portal 301 are possible.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that one or moreof the components of the portal 301 may be shared with or borrowed fromother software programs. For example, because the client portal 301 mayperform many of the functions typically associated with a conventionalbrowser, portions of the operating functions 302 may be shared with, orborrowed from, a browser program employed by the local computer, such asMicrosoft Internet Explorer.

In order to streamline the operation of the client portal 301 andsimplify its use for consumers, the functions 302 of the client portalmay preferably be limited to only those necessary to perform a specifictask. For example, if the client portal 301 is configured to purchase aparticular type of goods or services (e.g., eBooks) over a network suchas the Internet, the client portal 301 may limit the user's access topoints on the network to only those that offer the particular type ofgoods or services for purchase. Further, the client portal 301 mayprovide the user with user interfaces that include only the commandsnecessary to examine and purchase that particular type of goods orservices.

The client portal 301 may also limit the user to the purchase of goodsor services from particular vendors. This allows the publisher ordistributor of the client portal 301 to restrict the use of the portal301 to purchases from only those vendors that, e.g., are trustworthy,have an agreement with the publisher or distributor, etc. Thus, theclient portal 301 may be seen as a filter that filters out extraneousinformation for the user, thereby providing the user with only theinformation the user needs to purchase the particular type of goods orservices from particular vendors for which the client portal 301 hasbeen configured.

One exemplary embodiment of the client portal 301, as shown in FIG. 3,is for use as part of a reader for purchasing and subsequently readingeBooks, as previously mentioned. Accordingly, when a user activates theclient portal 301 according to this embodiment of the invention, theoperating functions 302 operate to provide the user with the userinterface 304, shown in FIG. 4. As seen in this figure, the userinterface 304 is much simpler than the user interface 201 for aconventional browser shown in FIG. 2. For example, the client portalinterface 304 shown in FIG. 4 only has three display areas. Display area401 displays the content retrieved by the client portal 301, displayarea 402 displays the title of the content retrieved by portal 301, anddisplay area 403 shows the “page number” of the content currently beingdisplayed in display area 401.

In addition, the operating functions 302 of the client portal 301 may beconfigured in any way useful to provide features that facilitate theparticular use for the client portal 301. Thus, in the above-describedembodiment for reading and viewing eBooks, the operating functions 302may display the content retrieved by the client portal 301 in a mannersimilar to that of actual paper books or catalogs. For example, theoperating functions 302 may divide the retrieved content into individualpage segments with corresponding page numbers. A user may then skip tothe next (or previous) sequential page segment by activating the pageturn command 408 (to be discussed below), instead of having to scrollthrough the content as with a conventional browser. Further, the usermay access a specific portion of the retrieved eBook simply by referringto its page number.

The interface 304 includes a “Library” command button 404, whichinstructs the portal 301 to retrieve the contents of the Library 306portion of the memory 303. The Library 306 contains a listing of theeBooks and other content accessible to the portal 301 for viewing by theuser. For example, if the user has previously employed the portal todownload, e.g., Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, The Inferno by Dante, the KingJames Bible and the October, 2000 issue of Slate magazine, each of theseitems will be listed in the Library 306. This listing may be contained,for example, in an eBook page, a HTML page, a XML page or in a page ofany other suitable type of format for rendering content in the Library306 portion of the memory 303. For example, as is known in the art, onewell-known eBook format, commonly referred to as the “.lit” format, is avariant of the HTML format that has been converted to a binary listing.These content rendering formats, including the “.lit” format, will bewell known to those of ordinary skill in the art, and thus will not bediscussed here in further detail.

Accordingly, when the user activates the “Library” command button 404,the client portal 301 retrieves and displays the page of content listingeach of these items. This content page (not shown) may also preferablycontain a link to each listed item, so that the user can retrieve adesired item for viewing simply by activating the link. It should benoted that an item listed in the Library 306 portion of the memory 303may represent content that has actually been downloaded by the clientportal 301 for viewing. With some embodiments of the invention, an itemmay alternately represent content for which the client portal 301 hasonly. obtained the information (e.g., password information) necessary todownload the content in the future.

Like the “Library” command button 404, the “Bookstore” command button405 causes the portal 301 to retrieve the contents of the Bookstore 307portion of the memory 303. The Bookstore 307 portion of the memory 303contains a listing of the locations (e.g., Web pages or Web sites)accessible to the client portal 301 for obtaining new content. Thislisting may be, for example, a set of Web sites displayed in the eBookpage 409 as shown in FIG. 4. Accordingly, when the user activates the“Bookstore” command button 405, the portal 301 retrieves the eBook page409 listing each of the accessible Web pages or Web sites. Each listingon this eBook page 409 may also preferably be a link to the listed Webpage or site, so that the user can instruct the portal 301 to access anddisplay a desired page or site for viewing simply by activating thelisting of the site on the eBook page 409.

The “Guidebook” command button 406 causes the client portal 301 toretrieve the contents of the Guidebook 308 portion of the memory 303.Preferably, the Guidebook 308 portion contains an instruction manualexplaining the operation of the client portal 301. The “Return” commandbutton 407 causes the client portal 301 to display the most recentlydisplayed content (i.e., the content displayed just prior to thecurrently displayed content.)

As previously noted, the user interface 304 also provides the pageup/down button 408, which is located in the display area 403. Thisbutton 408 advances the view of the content displayed in the displayarea 401 in page-sized increments, just as with a conventional paperbook. It should be noted that the use of page increments to viewrendered content, rather than using conventional scrolling, is morefamiliar to users who are accustomed to turning individual pages in abook or catalog. Thus, the use of consistently-sized page increments isyet another feature of some embodiments of the invention that serves tofacilitate commercial transactions over a communications network such asthe Internet.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, the display area 401 displays the first“page” of the contents of the Library 306, so the page up/down commandbutton 408 appears as a single arrow in the display area 403. Of course,as known to those of ordinary skill in the art, if the second orsubsequent “page” of the contents of the Library 306 were displayed,then the page up/down command button 408 would appear as two oppositelydirected arrows.

It should be noted that the client portal interface 304 does not have anaddress line that would allow a user to type in a URL as with aconventional browser to access new content (i.e., content that has notbeen previously stored in the client portal's memory). Rather, aspreviously indicated, the user activates the “Bookstore” command buttonto retrieve the eBook or HTML page 409 listing the Web pages or sitesthat are accessible to the portal 301 for retrieving new content. Theparticular page 409 shown in FIG. 4 contains three site listings410-412. To access any of these Web pages or sites, the user simplyactivates the link to that site contained in its listing. This causesthe client portal 301 to send the URL for the listed page or site to arouter and onto the appropriate server to obtain that page or site.

It should also be noted that the page 409 does not provide a mechanismfor a user to add new Web sites to its list of accessible sites(although the interface 304 may allow a user to activate a command todelete a Web site from the list, as is know in the art). Instead, thepage 409 also includes a listing 410 for a Web site entitled “BookstoreDirectory.” To add a new site to the Bookstore 307 portion of the clientportal memory 303, the user must first access the “Bookstore Directory”Web site by activating the bookstore directory site listing 410, as willbe explained below. Thus, in order to access a new Web page whoseaddress was not originally stored in the client portal memory 303, theuser must obtain the address for the new Web page from the bookstoredirectory site.

When the user activates the bookstore directory site listing 410, theclient portal 301 retrieves the content from the Bookstore Directorysite, and displays the retrieved content using the interface 305 asshown in FIG. 5. As seen in this figure, the interface 305 does notinclude any of the command buttons 404-407 of the first interface 304.Instead, the interface 305 has a navigation bar 501 with four navigationcommand buttons 502-505: the “back” command button 502, the “forward”command button 503, the “stop” command button 504 and the “refresh”command button 505. These command buttons and their functions are wellknown with respect to conventional browsers, and thus will not bedescribed in detail. The interface 305 also includes a first displayarea 506 for displaying the name of the retrieved content and a seconddisplay area 507 for displaying the retrieved content itself.

As also shown in FIG. 5, the content 508 of the Bookstore Directory sitemay be interactive, i.e., it may accept commands from the user inaddition to simply displaying information. For example, the content 508illustrated in FIG. 5 includes two listings 509 and 510 of new Web sitesavailable to the client portal 301 (i.e., Web sites that are not listedin the bookstore page 409, but which may still be accessed through theclient portal 301). Each listing includes the name 511 for the Web siteand an activation button 512. When the user wants to add a link to or aURL for the listed Web site to the bookstore page 409, the user selectsthe activation button 512 corresponding to the name 511 of the desiredtitle. This causes the name and URL for the Web site (and any otherpertinent information) to be downloaded to the client portal 301 andstored in the Bookstore portion 307 of the portal memory 303 for futureinclusion on the list 409 of sites accessible to the client portal 301.

In this manner, a user unfamiliar with the operation of a conventionalbrowser can easily add new sites accessible to the client portal 301 ofthe invention. At the same time, the user can maintain some control overthe list 409 of sites accessible to the client portal 301. For example,if the page 508 listing the available locations or sites includes fiftydifferent vendors, the user may select only one or two of his or herfavorite vendors for access through the client portal 301. Thus, bygiving the user control to limit the number of possible vendors frompage 508 to those selected for the list 409, the invention allows theuser to avoid being overwhelmed by a large number of possible vendors onthe page 508. Further, the distributor or publisher of the client portal301 can change or update the listing the locations or sites availablefor access by the client portal 301 at any time, without the need tocontact the client portal 301, simply by changing or updating thecontent of page 508. Still further, the publisher or distributor of theclient portal 301 (or other authorized party) can determine whichnetwork locations or sites are available for access by the client portal301. As will be discussed in detail below, this control of accessprovides a number of benefits for both the client portal's user and itspublisher or distributor (or other authorized party).

It should be noted that, with these embodiments of the invention, theuser of the reader does not need to obtain content for the reader usinga separate application (e.g., a browser) and then integrate the contentinto the reader for viewing in a separate operation. Instead, contentretrieved by the client portal 301 is seamlessly integrated into therendering portion of the eBook reader for display in the interface 304or the interface 305. That is, with these embodiments, the retrievedcontent is displayed in the interface 304 or the interface 305, andmanipulated using only the simplified set of commands provided in theseinterfaces rather than with the numerous commands that are provided in aconventional browser. Thus, if the retrieved content is the BookstoreDirectory site, the contents of this site are seamlessly displayed bythe reader in interface 305 similar to the display of an eBook ininterface 304. Likewise, if the retrieved content is, e.g., a catalog ofeBooks available to purchase from one of the sites listed on theBookstore Directory site, the catalog is displayed in the interface 305similar to the display of an eBook in interface 304.

Accordingly, with a client portal according to these embodiments of theinvention, a user does not need to obtain content from a browser in afirst operation, and then transfer the content to the application thatwill employ the content in a second, separate operation. Of course, thisfeature of the invention is not limited to the purchase and reading ofeBooks. For example, other embodiments of the invention can be used witha media player application for playing back electronic media (e.g., foraudibly playing MP3 files, visually displaying JPEG files, etc.). Withthese embodiments, a user can employ the client portal 301 according tothe invention to list only Web sites that offer electronic media, andthen to retrieve content from these sites directly into the mediaplayer.

While the embodiment of the invention described above advantageouslyemploys the Bookstore Directory content 508 to list network locations orsites available for access by the client portal 301, those of ordinaryskill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments of the inventioncan omit this feature. For example, other embodiments of the inventionmay arrange for the Bookstore page 409 to automatically include all ofthe sites or locations available for access by the client portal 301,without allowing the user to select the sites or locations appear onthis page.

As previously noted, the specificity of the Web site access permitted tothe client portal 301 provides a number of benefits to both the portaluser and to the publisher or distributor of the client portal 301. Forexample, limiting access to particular sites allows the portal 301 to beoptimized for its particular task, such as retrieving and viewingeBooks. The party authorized to maintain the Bookstore Directory Website, e.g., the publisher or distributor of the client portal 301, oranother authorized party such as a merchant affiliated with thepublisher or distributor of the client portal 301, can ensure that allof the new sites accessible through the bookstore directory offer eBooksfor downloading to the portal 301. Thus, if a merchant wants to beginselling goods or services compatible with the specific purpose of theclient portal 301 (e.g., eBooks), the authorized party can add thatmerchant's Web site to the list 508. Similarly, if a listed merchantdecides to no longer provide goods or services for the client portal301, the authorized party can delete that merchant's Web site from thelist 508. This relieves the user of the need to search for sitesoffering eBooks, or to maintain a list of favorite sites offeringeBooks.

Further, having the authorized party retain control over the use of theclient portal 301 empowers the authorized party to maintain the qualityand consistency of the sites accessible through the client portal 301.It also allows the authorized party to collect information on the user'spreferences (i.e., the user's tastes in literature), in order to assistthe user in accessing other desirable content. For example, thepublisher or distributor of the client portal 301 may be able todetermine that a user favors books in a particular genre of literature,such as horror novels. The publisher or distributor can then make othercontent available for access through the client portal 301 that may beof interest to that user, such as a catalog for purchasing Goth-styleclothing or a catalog for purchasing horror movies on VHS or DVD. Forexample, if the user purchases a book on birds of North America, thepublisher or distributor can offer the user the opportunity to purchasea book on the flowers of North America. Similarly, if a publisher of amedical textbook can include a link within that content that provides anoffer to the user to purchase a medical terminology dictionary. Thus, byretaining control of the content available for access by the clientportal 301, the publisher or distributor of the client portal 301 (orother authorized party) can effectively cross-market merchandise fromdifferent vendors for the benefit of the user.

Still further, permitting the publisher or distributor or otherauthorized party to retain control over the sites accessible through theclient portal 301 allows the publisher or distributor or otherauthorized party to remove accessible content from that the user doesnot regularly view. For example, if the client portal 301 is optimizedfor the purchase of clothing, it may initially be able to access contentincluding catalogs for the purchase of children's clothes. If the useris, e.g., a college student, however, he or she may not ever use theclient portal 301 to purchase children's clothes. When the publisher,distributor, or other authorized party determines that the user does notuse the client portal 301 to purchase children's clothes, it may thenremove the portal's access to the catalog for children's clothes, andprovide the portal 301 with access to a vendor's catalog forcollege-aged clothes instead.

Thus, the portal 301 distributor, publisher or other authorized partycan manage the content access available to the client portal 301 muchlike a landlord manages the tenants renting space from a shopping mall.The distributor, publisher or other authorized party can limit theaccess of the client portal 301 to the purchase of a particular type ofitem (e.g., eBooks), or to making purchases from a particular group ofvendors (e.g., those vendors that have affiliated themselves with thedistributor, publisher or other authorized party). Further, with someembodiments of the invention, the distributor, publisher or otherauthorized party can tailor the “tenants” of the “mall” to match thebuying habits of the user.

Catalogs for Purchasing Items Using the Client Portal According to theInvention

Returning now to FIG. 4, a user can access either of the sitesidentified in listing 411 and 412 to purchase goods or services with theclient portal 301 (in this example, to purchase eBooks). In someembodiments of the invention, the client portal 301 can display thecontent of these purchase sites using the interface 305. With otherembodiments of the invention, the client portal 301 may display thecontent of these purchase sites using an interface for a conventionalbrowser, such as the browser interface 201 shown in FIG. 2.

As previously discussed, because the client portal 301 according to thedescribed embodiment of the invention may only access sites selected byan authorized party, that authorized party may be able to control theformat of those accessible sites. This allows the authorized party toprovide the user with consistent formatting, so that a user will be ableto easily navigate through any site accessed through the client portal301.

One preferred format for presenting content at the purchase sites iselectronic catalogs. For the purposes of this application, an electroniccatalog is a sequential listing of information for items, where theposition of the information for each item bears some relationship to thepreviously described item and the next sequentially described item. Forexample, as with conventional paper catalogs, an electronic catalog isarranged into a series of sequential pages. The items described in thecatalog are then arranged in some type of specific order, so that thecatalog's merchant can tell a particular “story” about its product. Forexample, a book vendor may want user to view the current bestseller'sfirst, and then view its seasonal books (e.g., horror books forHalloween) next. It may then want users to be able to view its entirelibrary according to selected genre categories. Another book vendor,however, may users to view its sale items first, and then view thecurrent bestsellers.

Because the electronic catalogs according to the invention present theitems for purchase in a sequential order designated by the merchant,both merchants can have a user sequentially view its products in theorder in which it desires. This arrangement is different fromconventional product disclosures, which list available products usingHTML pages. With these conventional HTML listings, a user jumps fromproduct to product in a random order. Of course, according to theelectronic catalogs of the invention, a user can view a particularproduct out of sequence by using a table of contents to skip ahead tothe particular page on which that product is described. In the normalcourse of leafing through the catalog, however, the user will view themerchant's products in the particular order desired by the merchant.

In addition to allowing a merchant to display its items to a user in aparticular sequence, by arranging the available products into catalogs,a user can also more easily navigate through the catalogs to locateitems the user desires to purchase. FIG. 6 shows a first page 601 of onepossible electronic catalog for selling eBooks. The catalog page 601 maybe an eBook page, an HTML page, or a page written in some other suitablecontent rendering format. As seen in FIG. 6, the page 601 may includethe name or brand 602 of the merchant selling the eBooks (e.g., themerchant maintaining the purchase site) and a list of a number links 603to other pages in the catalog. When the user identifies the page of asubject of interest, the user then activates the link 603 for that page.This causes the client portal 301 to retrieve the page for thatparticular subject.

As can be seen from page 601, the contents of the catalog are arrangedaccording to a particular order desired by the merchant. In particular,the first items listed in the catalog are the current week's bestsellingbooks, followed by horror books for Halloween sales. The merchant'sregular library of books are then displayed, starting with romance bookson page 4 and ending with mystery books on page 18. Lastly, the salebooks are listed on page 22. Accordingly, a user that sequentially viewsthe pages of the catalog will view the items offered by the bookmerchant in the particular order desired by the merchant. Alternately,if the user sees a particular category of item he or she wants to viewout of order, the user can activate the link 603 associated with thatcategory or subject to view it immediately.

FIG. 7 illustrates one example of another catalog content page 701(numbered as catalog page 12 on the content page 601 described above).As seen in this figure, content page 701 displays books in the AmericanLiterature genre. It includes an eBook listing 702 for each eBookavailable in the catalog 701. Each listing 702 may include the eBook'stitle 703, the eBook's author 704, the eBook's price 705, and a downloadcommand button 706 for instructing the client portal 301 to purchase anddownload the eBook for viewing. Each listing 702 may further include apreview command button 707 instructing the client portal 301 to downloada preview of the eBook (e.g., a free copy of the first chapter) and ahard copy command 708, instructing the client portal 301 to order apaper copy of the eBook from the merchant. The hard copy command 708 mayfurther advantageously instruct the client portal 301 to download someor all of the eBook for viewing in addition to ordering the hard copy,so that the user may begin reading the eBook immediately without havingto wait until the hard copy is delivered.

The listing 702 can also include a name 709 of the actual supplier ofthe eBook if it is different from the merchant maintaining the purchaseWeb site. While the merchant maintaining the purchase site and catalogpages 601 and 701 may provide the cataloged eBooks for downloading tothe client portal 301, this is not necessary. Instead, the downloadcommand button 706 for an eBook may actually instruct the client portal301 to download the eBook (or a preview of the eBook for the previewcommand button 707) from another location, such as a Web site maintainedby the actual publisher of the eBook or a Web site maintained by anothermerchant. Thus, a catalog 701 may include eBooks that are actuallyretrieved from a number of different locations. This feature allows themerchant maintaining the purchase Web site a great deal of flexibilityin creating its catalog of available eBooks. Also, while the merchantmaintaining the purchase Web site may include a name 708 for the actualpublisher of the eBook, the merchant may also choose not to display thisinformation to the user, so that it appears that all of the eBooks areprovided directly by that merchant. This feature allows the merchant agreat deal of flexibility in presenting its brand image, either as abroker or as an original retailer. Further, a publisher of eBooks canmaintain a purchase site for its published eBooks, but identify one ormore merchants as sources for the eBooks to the user.

The merchant maintaining the purchase site and catalogs 601 and 701 mayalso tailor the catalogs 601 and/or 701 to the individual user. Aspreviously noted, when the user activates a listing 411 or 412 for apurchase site, the client portal 301 sends out the URL for that siteover the Internet (or other network) to the computer server on whichthat site is maintained. The client portal 301 can include anidentifying header with that URL, so that the merchant maintaining thepurchase site can recognize that a particular user is requesting thecontent. This allows the merchant to collect information from the user,such as the user's preferences in eBooks, to prepare a profile of theuser's preferences and purchase habits. The merchant can use the user'sprofile to then tailor the content provided to the client portal 301when the user accesses the merchant's Web site.

For example, if a user's profile indicates that the user typicallypurchases only biographical eBooks, science fiction eBooks and Americanliterature eBooks, then the merchant can provide the user with a genrecatalog 601 including only these genres and an option to view anexpanded genre catalog 601. Alternately, the merchant may provide theuser with a detailed catalog 701 including popular eBooks in all threeof these genres. As previously noted, the distributor or publisher ofthe client portal 301 (or other authorized party charged withdetermining the access available to the client portal 301) can modifythe content offered to the user through the portal 301 based upon theuser's profile. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thata wide variety of options are possible.

It should also be noted that the user's profile may include purchaseinformation for the user. For example, the profile may include creditcard information for a credit card account frequently employed by theuser to purchase goods or services through the client portal 301, thedelivery method preferred by the user, the user's email and postaladdress, etc. The merchant can use this profile information to moreconveniently allow the user to purchase goods or services through theclient portal 301.

It should also be noted that, with some embodiments of the invention, auser can employ the client portal 301 to purchase items from a merchanteven when the client portal is not connected to the network hosting themerchant's site. For example, when the client portal 301 is connected tothe network hosting the merchant's site, the portal 301 can download anelectronic catalog provided by the merchant into the memory 303. Theuser can then access the catalog offline from the network (eitherdirectly through the Library 306 or through the Bookstore 307), and makepurchases from the catalog. The portal 301 will record the user'spurchases until it reconnects to the network hosting the merchant'ssite. The client portal 301 then conveys the purchase to the merchant tocomplete the sales transaction.

Alternately, if the client portal 301 is for the purchase of content,the portal 301 may allow the user to obtain the purchased content whilethe portal 301 is disconnected from the network. As previously noted,merchants that provide content for the client portal 301 may keep trackof a user's preferences. With this arrangement, a merchant can downloadcontent preferred by a user to the client portal 301 in such a way thatthe user cannot access the content until the user actually purchases thecontent. For example, if a merchant has recorded that the user is afrequent purchaser of Stephen King novels, the merchant can download themost recent Stephen King novel to the client portal 301. The downloadedcontent may be invisible to the user, or encrypted with a key that isunavailable to the user. When the user makes an offline request topurchase the content from the merchant's catalog, the user can beallowed to retrieve the already-downloaded content or provided with thekey needed to decrypt the content without having to reconnect to thenetwork. When the user does then subsequently reconnect to the network,the user's purchase of the content is then conveyed to the merchant.

Conclusion

The present invention has been described above by way of specificexemplary embodiments, and the many features and advantages of thepresent invention are apparent from the written description. Thus, it isintended that the appended claims cover all such features and advantagesof the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, the specification is notintended to limit the invention to the exact construction and operationad illustrated and described. For example, the invention may include anyone or more elements from the apparatus and methods described herein inany combination or subcombination. Accordingly, there are any number ofalternative combinations for defining the invention, which incorporateone or more elements from the specification (including the drawings,claims, and summary of the invention) in any combinations orsubcombinations. Hence, all suitable modifications and equivalents maybe considered as falling within the scope of the appended claims

1. An application that uses content to perform a function, comprising: aclient portal for retrieving content from a network, such that contentretrieved by the client portal from the network is seamlessly integratedinto the application for use.
 2. The application recited in claim 1,wherein the application provides an interface for manipulating contentretrieved from the network; and the client portal retrieves content fromthe network directly into the interface.
 3. The application recited inclaim 1, wherein the application is a rendering application fordisplaying eBooks.
 4. The application recited in claim 1, wherein theapplication is a media player for playing electronic media.
 5. Theapplication recited claim 1, wherein the client portal is capable ofretrieving content from only preselected sites in the network.
 6. Aclient portal for facilitating the purchase of a particular product,comprising: a browser capable of retrieving content from onlypreselected sites that are related to providing the particular product.7. The client portal recited in claim 6, further including a memory forstoring the preselected sites.
 8. The client portal recited in claim 6,wherein at least one of the preselected sites lists other preselectedsites.
 9. The client portal recited in claim 6, wherein at least one ofthe preselected sites lists sites that are available for preselection.10. The client portal recited in claim 6, wherein, when the browserrequests content from a site, the browser provides a header identifyingcharacteristics of the browser.
 11. The client portal recited in claim6, wherein at least one of the preselected sites includes a catalog ofitems for purchase through the client portal.
 12. The client portalrecited in claim 11, wherein the client portal further includes amemory, and the catalog is downloaded to the memory.
 13. The clientportal recited in claim 11, wherein the catalog contains content frommultiple content sources.
 14. The client portal recited in claim 11,wherein the browser identifies a user of the client portal; and thecatalog contains a selection of items for purchase based upon a previouspurchase history of the user.
 15. The client portal recited in claim 11,wherein the browser identifies a user of the client portal; and thecatalog contains a selection of items for purchase based upon a previousrelationship between the user and a content retailer.
 16. A catalog ofcontent available to a user through a client portal, comprising: a firstelectronic page including a representation of a first item available forpurchase through the client portal; a second electronic page including arepresentation of a second item available for purchase through theclient portal; and a third electronic page including a representation ofa third item available for purchase through the client portal, such thatthe first page, the second page and the third page are configured fordisplay by the client portal in a sequential order.
 17. The catalogrecited in claim 16, wherein the second page can be retrieved by theclient portal only through a first electronic link contained in thefirst page and a second electronic link contained in a table of contentspage for the catalog.
 18. The catalog recited in claim 17, wherein thethird page can be retrieved by the client portal only through a thirdelectronic link contained in the second page and a fourth electroniclink contained in the table of contents page for the catalog.
 19. Amethod of purchasing products through a client portal, comprising:connecting the client portal to a network; retrieving a vendor's catalogfrom the network into the client portal during the client portal'sconnection to the network; disconnecting the client portal from thenetwork; while the client portal is disconnected from the network,selecting an item for purchase from the vendor's catalog; reconnectingthe client portal to the network; and during the reconnection of theclient portal to the network, sending a purchase request to the vendorfor the item.
 20. The method of purchasing products recited in claim 19,wherein the vendor's catalog includes a first electronic page includinga representation of a first item available for purchase through theclient portal; a second electronic page including a representation of asecond item available for purchase through the client portal; and athird electronic page including a representation of a third itemavailable for purchase through the client portal, such that the firstpage, the second page and the third page are configured for display bythe client portal in a sequential order.
 21. The method of purchasingproducts recited in claim 19, wherein the vendor's catalog is a catalogoffering eBooks for purchase through the client portal.
 22. A method ofpurchasing products through a client portal, comprising: connecting theclient portal to a network; retrieving from the network into the clientportal during the client portal's connection to the network both avendor's catalog and content offered in the vendor's catalog;disconnecting the client portal from the network; while the clientportal is disconnected from the network, selecting content for purchasefrom the vendor's catalog, and making the selected content available foruse through the client portal; reconnecting the client portal to thenetwork; and during the reconnection of the client portal to thenetwork, sending a purchase request to the vendor for the selectedcontent.
 23. The method of purchasing products recited in claim 21,wherein the vendor's catalog includes a first electronic page includinga representation of a first item available for purchase through theclient portal; a second electronic page including a representation of asecond item available for purchase through the client portal; and athird electronic page including a representation of a third itemavailable for purchase through the client portal, such that the firstpage, the second page and the third page are configured for display bythe client portal in a sequential order.
 24. The method of purchasingproducts recited in claim 19, wherein the vendor's catalog is a catalogoffering eBooks for purchase through the client portal.